The Wall › Panel 36W › North Carolina › Fred Lee Clarke
FRED LEE CLARKE
Chief Master Sergeant · U.S. Air Force
January 28, 1932 – December 13, 1968
Service recordFred Lee Clarke, of Troutman, North Carolina, served as a Chief Master Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. He was lost on December 13, 1968, in Laos, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 36W, Line 14 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 36W · Line 14
Names are inscribed in the order of loss, starting at Panel 1E at the apex and ending at Panel 1W. At the Memorial, find the panel number at the base and count down from the top line.
Remember
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Service
- Branch
- U.S. Air Force
- Rank
- Chief Master Sergeant (CMSGT)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Aircraft Loadmaster Technician (60770)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 606 SOP SQ 56 SOP WG
- Born
- January 28, 1932
- Home of record
- Troutman, North Carolina (Iredell County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- December 13, 1968
- Country
- Laos
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Declared Dead
- Circumstance
- Aircraft Crash — crew
- First reported
- Missing in action
- Remains
- Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record
Context · from the records
What was happening
36 names on the Wall carry the date December 13, 1968. In December 1968, 855 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “606 SOP SQ 56 SOP WG”, his unit in the record, lost 5 of its members that month.
He died in Laos while the air war over Laos was under way. From 1964 to 1973, U.S. aircraft bombed the Ho Chi Minh Trail and supported the war in northern Laos; many of the Americans lost over Laos were never recovered.
His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.
Read the history
Also on Panel 36W, Line 14
- DOUGLAS VINCENT DAILEYSenior Master Sergeant · December 13, 1968
- RANDY WAYNE DERRICKSpecialist Four · December 13, 1968
- MORGAN JEFFERSON DONAHUEMajor · December 13, 1968
- THOMAS WAYNE DUGANColonel · December 13, 1968
Same unit, same day
- DOUGLAS VINCENT DAILEYSenior Master Sergeant · Panel 36W, Line 14
- MORGAN JEFFERSON DONAHUEMajor · Panel 36W, Line 14
- JOSEPH PETER FANNINGMajor · Panel 36W, Line 15
- SAMUEL FRANKLIN WALKER JRChief Master Sergeant · Panel 36W, Line 19
From Troutman
- WILLIAM TURNER OVERCASHSpecialist Four · December 23, 1968
- THURSTON CONRAD HEAGGANSCorporal · November 15, 1970
Source. U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Casualty Analysis System, Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File (as of April 29, 2008), Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Record Group 330, National Archives (NAID 2240992). Panel and line as recorded in that file. This page presents the official record and its historical context; no biography has been written for him yet. See something wrong? Report a correction.